A nostalgic peek at a kitchen from eight decades ago

This color photograph is featured inside the 1933 edition of All About Home Baking, which was published by the General Foods Corporation.

Why did cupboards with glass doors fall out of style, anyway? Too expensive? It seems like they're really convenient. Find what you want before you go opening half the doors in the kitchen.

It's interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't, with regard to the products show here. Jell-O, Calumet double-acting baking powder, Grape-Nuts, Baker's Chocolate, Instant Postum and Sanka coffee are some of the items that are identifiable.

And how about this one? Is it the side of a Log Cabin Syrup container?

Share the memories that this photo brings back for you...

Book cover: "The House on the Borderland"

• Title: The House on the Borderland
• Author: William Hope Hodgson (1877-1918)
• Publisher: Ace Books (Ace Science Fiction Classics, D-553)
• Year: 1962
• Cover illustration: The fabulous artwork, which is much of the reason that I love this edition, is by the award-winning Ed Emshwiller (1925-1990). Emshwiller won five Hugo Awards for his science-fiction artwork in the 1950s and 1960s. ... An exhaustive summary of his artwork can be found on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. ... Here's the coolest thing I found, though. A Flickr user has posted the complete piece of Emshwiller artwork that was used for the cover of The House on the Borderland. Gorgeous!
• Notes: So, yes, this is my beat-up, partially taped copy of the classic weird-fiction novel by Hodgson. It was originally published in 1908, and it greatly influenced H.P. Lovecraft, among others.¹ ... Beneath the title on the title page is the following: "From the Manuscript, discovered in 1877 by Messrs. Tonnison and Berreggnog, in the Ruins that lie to the South of the Village of Kraighten, in the West of Ireland. Set out here, with Notes". ... This copy runs 159 pages. ... Copies are available on Amazon starting at about $9, but if the Ace Books D-553 is what you definitely want, read the descriptions carefully to make sure that's what you're getting. There have been many editions of this novel. ... There were some rumblings last summer that an independent production company was planning to film this novel and its Interdimensional Pig Creatures (IPCs), but that might be stalled.

Emshwiller's depiction of the house reminds me of Norway's Borgund Stave Church, which I wrote about in March 2012.

Also, I love this blurb from The New York Times on the back cover...

Footnote
1. For a bit of a laugh, check out this January 2013 post — Imaginary H.P. Lovecraft postcard.

Two selections from 1942 Borden booklet of "magic recipes"

A few days ago, I wrote about a "well-loved 1942 Borden recipe booklet," and I asked you which recipes from its pages you wanted me to reprint here.

I received two requests, so here they are...

Unbaked brownies
(Makes about 18)

• 2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
• 1⅓ cups (15 oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 cups (⅓ pound) vanilla wafer crumbs
• 1 cup finely chopped walnut meats

1. Melt chocolate in top of double boiler.
2. Add Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk and stir over rapidly boiling water 5 minutes until thick.
3. Remove from heat. Add vanilla wafer crumbs and ½ cup of the nut meats.
4. Butter shallow pan and sprinkle with ¼ cup nut meats. Place chocolate mixture in pan and spread evenly, using a knife dipped in hot water. Sprinkle top with rest of nuts.
5. Chill in refrigerator 6 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.

Magic lemon meringue pie
(Makes an 8-inch pie)

• 1⅓ cups (15 oz. can) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
• ½ cup lemon juice
• Grated rind of 1 lemon or ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons sugars
• baked pie shell (8-inch)

1. Blend Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, lemon juice, grated lemon rind or lemon extract, and egg yolks.
2. Pour into baked pie shell.
3. Cover with meringue, made by beating egg whites until foamy, then adding sugar gradually, beating until stiff.
4. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 10 minutes or until brown. Chill.

Illustrated map of "Desert of Maine"

This little card — it's five inches wide — served as both the admission ticket and route map for an attraction called the Desert of Maine in Freeport, Maine. The ticket/map was printed by the Globe Ticket Company in Boston, Massachusetts.

The "desert" is, according to Wikipedia, a "a 40-acre tract of exposed glacial silt (a sand-like substance, but finer-grained than sand) surrounded by a pine forest." It's been a tourist attraction since 1925, when it was purchased for just $300 from the frustrated family that could no longer farm the land.

The map has 19 marked points. Here's the legend for those points, taken from the other side of the card:

1. Desert of Maine Gift Shop

2. Fascinating sand designers

3. The original barn of the once-fertile Tuttle Farm

4. One of the many vari-colored sand beds — Use the trowel and see how many colors you can find.

5. Remains of the original Tuttle homestead boundary posts

6. Moss beds

7. An excellent vantage point for picture-taking

8. Here lies an apple tree which was completely buried in 1953.

9. Another vari-colored sand bed

10. Another excellent point of vantage for photographers

11. The almost-completely buried Spring House built in 1938

12. Birches surviving the encroaching sea of sand

13. The Desert of Maine's highest dune — 75 feet

14. Clay beds, always moist

15. Last vestiges of the original Tuttle farm orchard

16. Indian tepee (A good place to get a photo of the "chief" of the family)

17. Indian shop

18. Desert of Maine Oasis refreshments

19. The famous Desert of Maine register. Please check your state or country and record your visit.

At the Desert of Maine today, admission is $10.50 for adults and a little less for those age 16 and under. It offers narrated coach tours, walking tours, nature trails, gemstone hunts, the opportunity to fill your own sand bottle, camping, disc golf and a butterfly room.

Has anyone ever been there?